


The Time Traveler's Boyfriend

by LMX



Series: Comment Fic [9]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Leverage
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Cardiff, M/M, Time Traveler!Eliot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 20:20:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13015404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LMX/pseuds/LMX
Summary: Eliot Spencer always knew his life wasn't going to be straightforward after Leverage and co., but after travelling to a British city he'd never heard of that spoke a language he was convinced wasn't English (even if Sophie said it was), falling through a rift in time and space... that had been way more complicated that he'd expected. (Backing up from LJ)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Comment fic for reikoyazumi who prompted: Doctor Who/Leverage, Eliot, Doctor, Eliot hates alien guns just as much as he does human ones.

Eliot Spencer always knew his life wasn't going to be straightforward after Leverage and co., but after travelling to a British city he'd never heard of that spoke a language he was convinced wasn't English (even if Sophie said it was), falling through a rift in time and space... that had been way more complicated that he'd expected.

It hadn't been too bad, not after the first couple of months spent trying to get back and being told at every turn that it just wasn't possible. He was a sensible guy, people were speaking a good estimation of English and he was happy to rely on the fact that, no matter where you went in the universe it was inevitable you would find some trade in violence.

Once he'd made a name for himself again, met up with a couple of good people he could rely on in a crisis, made enough money to get by... the years hadn't exactly flown by, and his battered and abused body was testament to how much less impressive his physical skill was in this world, but he'd survived it. He'd trained himself not to think about what he'd left behind, who he'd left behind. If he dreamt from time to time about someone waiting for him to come home... he was only human. And human wasn't much these days.

It hadn't taken him long to realise that he hated alien guns as much as he did human ones. They were rarer now, the ballistics-based guns. But oddly easier to transport around the place. It was the energy weapons that truly scared him. Wide-beam total destruction energy weapons, impossible to control or police. Weapons somewhat like the one being waved at him right now, oversized and glowing green at the base and on the barrel and yet still undeniably a gun.

He'd heard the sound of the core charging, so as he wrenched the gun off the armoured goon that was waving it at him he knew he couldn't disarm it or eject the powerpack, so Eliot just threw it aside and dove back in. He was hyper aware of the loaded weapon as he tried to wrench the armour off the goon to get a good blow in, but he underestimated the alien's strength as he was lifted clear off the floor and thrown onto his back, driven into the floor by a hoof-like foot. Grunting in pain as the hoof pressed into his heavily-abused ribs, Eliot threw a look over his shoulder at the discarded gun. There was hating guns and then there was getting yourself dead.

A pair of shoes - converse, completely anachronistic and making him long for home - stepped into his line of sight, walking straight past the gun and bringing a tall stranger into the room. He would have said human once, but he knew better now. Most humans weren't entirely any more. The weight on his chest shifted as the goon spoke, cutting off his air completely, and everything went slowly black as curious eyes stared down at him.

When he woke, the first thing he saw was the gun, still in the corner where he'd thrown it, and the second was the thug that had taken him out, unconscious beside him. He sat up slowly, immediately aware of a couple of broken ribs that were shifting slowly and sharply inside of him. His rescuer, for a given value of rescue, was sat off to one side, studying him intently. Eliot's gaze dropped back to the gun again, knowing he wouldn't be fighting fit for a while yet.

"Oh, no. Don't do that." The stranger objected. "We haven't even met yet. You might like me when you get to know me!" His tone was jovial, and Eliot didn't know what to think.

"Who're you?" he asked, buying time as he straightened and tested his mobility with the busted ribs.

"I'm the Doctor." he replied, in a very matter-of-fact way. "And I think you should know, I'm not a big fan of guns." The self-declared Doctor gave him a serious look, as if anticipating a scripted response.

"Never been a fan." Eliot said.

The Doctor frowned. "Of what?"

"Of guns." Eliot emphasised, remembering conversations with Parker, when he'd never been sure exactly who she was talking to.

"Have you travelled through Cardiff recently?" The Doctor asked, standing in a startling way that had Eliot leaning towards the gun. It took a couple of minutes for the question to settle in.

When it did it was like a firework going off, adrenaline immediately coursing. "How do you know about Cardiff? I've never found anyone here who'd heard of Cardiff."

"Well of course not, it's been gone over two million years. Even New Cardiff, and Retro Cardiff and Real Cardiff, all gone now. There's still that village out in the Boe Nebula, they still speak Welsh there - now that's a language with staying power. No, no one 'round here would have ever heard of them. Took a trip through a rift then, did you? Good number of years back, I'd say, not much rift energy on you now."

Eliot gaped for a moment. "You're *the* Doctor." he gaped. "They told me I should find you. Everyone I've asked about Cardiff said I should talk to you. You or... Captain Harkness. Thought I was being led on."

"Led on? Oh, no. Not at all." The Doctor smiled secretively. "You're a long way from home, Eliot Spencer, and you've been gone a long time... Are you ready to go home?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I Missed You"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Commentfic for oteap

When he'd fallen from the sky - and he had fallen from the sky, there was nothing else for miles he could have fallen off - he'd been a mess. His jeans had been so dirty Alec hadn't been able to say what colour they were with any kind of certitude, his shirt and coat had been ripped and tatty, a beanie had covered dark hair and a beard hid the rest of his face.

Alec had started at his sudden falling-from-the-sky act, but not thought too hard about it, put his eyes to the ground and started to walk past him - he was obviously just a homeless man in need of a shave, anything else was Alec's lack of sleep. Eliot had been out on a private job, and there was something about an empty bed that just wasn't appealing.

Then the man had reached out, grabbed his arm and said 'Alec', just once, in that serious tone that Eliot reserved for when bad things were about to happen. Alec had met his eyes then, and damn did he recognise those eyes, even if he recognised nothing else. Eliot smiled and damn near fell apart, tears and everything. "Shit man, I missed you."

Alec took him home, Eliot - his Eliot - out of the country for at least another day made this slightly less weird than it might have otherwise been. He let him shower, shave, change, didn't even peak. The man who left his bathroom was only slightly less alien than the one who went in. He was older, Alec could tell now the beard was gone. There were creases and scars and marks where there hadn't been any when Eliot had left a week ago. Thick hair, curling as it dried, was much longer, tidied back into a knot and greying at the temples.

Eliot smiled at him as he stood there observing and Alec got the familiar feeling he was being mocked without Eliot even needing to say anything.

Eliot stepped up closer, reaching up to cup Alec's cheek with a hand Alec realised with a physical jerk was half-formed, two fingers missing to the second joint and his thumb twisted unnaturally. Eliot pulled back with a wince, putting the hand behind him and holding it with the other.

"Sorry." he muttered.

Alec scowled, reaching out to grab his forearm and pull the hand back around into sight. "Let me see." he retorted, holding the hand still and studying the damage in what he hoped was an accepting way, running his own fingers over scars obviously years old.

Eliot had tears in his eyes again when he looked up, and Alec didn't know what to do with that, so he grinned and leant over to kiss the other man.

"How did you get here?" he asked.

Eliot snorted, scrubbing at his face with a sleeve and stepping away, out of Alec's space.

"He told me I was supposed to call him the Doctor. I figure that's some obscure reference or somethin'. You an' your geek friends are all the same."

"You... He..." Alec debated passing out, lightheaded all of a sudden. "Hang on. He sent you back in your own timeline? What if you meet yourself?" he finally managed to settle on one issue out of the thousands clamouring for attention.

Eliot looked away, expression sad. "I'm not gonna make it home, Sweetheart."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Little epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Commentfic for oteap

Hardison knows enough about time and space to know that sometimes the man who comes home to him at the end of the day has been away from him longer than they've been apart. He knows that Eliot's seen things in the future that he shouldn't have seen. That he knows things he shouldn't be able to know.

He also knows that sometimes Eliot disappears in a small blue box, and if that isn't cause for a geek-gasm he doesn't know what is.

The thing is, he's seen the show, and listened to the radio show, and read all the books that might exist and a lot of the fanfiction (just in case) and he *knows* how unreliable the Doctor is at bringing people home to their loved ones when they're supposed to be home.

He just hopes that Eliot remembers he has a rehearsal for their wedding tomorrow at noon.


End file.
